There’s something in the air in Venice this year. Though New York Fashion Week doesn’t begin for another ten days, Venice Film Festival has just stolen its thunder as the official opener of this fashion season. With several designer debuts due to take place in the coming month, labels have jumped the gun by instead using Venice as the platform for their first looks. Take Jonathan Anderson, for example – while we eagerly await his womenswear debut for Dior, the Irish designer has commandeered the Venice red carpet as his own personal catwalk, dressing Greta Lee, Mia Goth, Monica Barbaro and Alba Rohrwacher, while Luca Guadagnino, Andrew Garfield and Will Price are all in Dior men’s.
At the end of last week, Versace also unveiled the first look of its next era, with creative director Dario Vitale choosing Julia Roberts as his new muse. The US actress wore jeans, a striped shirt and an oversized blazer to the After The Hunt daytime photocall, and also chose Versace for the film’s red carpet premiere, wearing a navy gown referencing SS01’s Harlequin pattern. Though the looks were both extremely pared back in comparison to what we’ve come to expect from Donatella’s Versace, it’s clear that the house still knows how to grab headlines – just three days later, Amanda Seyfried wore Robert’s first jeans and blazer look for her own red carpet moment thanks to their shared stylist Elizabeth Stewart.
Elsewhere, Matthieu Blazy debuted not one but two new Chanel looks on Ayo Edebiri, while Louise Trotter turned to Frankenstein’s Jacob Elordi for a trio of Bottega Veneta outfits. Outside of the debuts, however, the rest of the fashion world still put their best foot forward, with Emma Corrin stealing the show in purple Miu Miu, Shailene Woodley donning Michael Rider’s new Celine, and Anthony Vaccarello dressing an impressive roster including Chloë Sevigny, Luka Sabbat, Indya Moore, and Jim Jarmusch in Saint Laurent.
Scroll through the gallery above for all those looks and more